"Tech" Thread: Blu Ray, HD-DVD, Video Games, HDTV

[AndyDursin]

Well the receiver works great! Well worth the $379 shipped from Amazon

My Blu Ray & HD-DVD players have "Multi Channel PCM" working at 96hz so I assume that's what I want.

[Eric W.]

I have an Onkyo 605 receiver coming in tomorrow...so I'm trying to finish up my work today to get ready

Any ideas on what I need to have my Blu Ray and HD-DVD players set on for the best audio?

The XA2 is HDMI 1.3 and will eventually pass TrueHD and DTS-HD via bitstream, but until then I assume I still have it connected via "HDMI Bitstream" anyway?

My Philips isn't 1.3 but I believe I can get PCM out of it...I'm just wondering what I need it set up for.

Sounds like you did it all right.

Leaf through the manuals of your players real quick, but beyond that, thanks to HDMI, it almost all takes care of itself.

[AndyDursin]

Last night I was able to directly compare the MPEG2 TBS (95) on Directv with the new 247 (MPEG4) and I can safely say the days of "HD Lite" are long gone.

The latter's PQ was markedly smoother and finer than the MPEG2 channel -- it looked absolutely dynamic during the Sox game in fact.

I'd say it's looking good for your eventual upgrade Eric, I'm very pleased with what I've seen. The main knock from a lot of (uninformed) people seems to be the lack of HD content on some of these new channels -- but that's not Directv's fault, obviously. Once more and more people get these channels they'll start complaining about "Stretch-o-vision" of standard-def content, that's for sure!

[Eric W.]

Last night I was able to directly compare the MPEG2 TBS (95) on Directv with the new 247 (MPEG4) and I can safely say the days of "HD Lite" are long gone.

The latter's PQ was markedly smoother and finer than the MPEG2 channel -- it looked absolutely dynamic during the Sox game in fact.

I'd say it's looking good for your eventual upgrade Eric, I'm very pleased with what I've seen. The main knock from a lot of (uninformed) people seems to be the lack of HD content on some of these new channels -- but that's not Directv's fault, obviously. Once more and more people get these channels they'll start complaining about "Stretch-o-vision" of standard-def content, that's for sure!

Good! This is what I was hoping to see and hear!

[Eric W.]

Andy set me straight here:

Do DirecTV customers get any kind of rebates or help on costs with any of these upgrades?

In my case, I'm using their older H10 HD receiver and 3 LNB dish so I'd be looking at a receiver upgrade and a dish upgrade.

I just spoke to someone from there and it didn't sound too promising...

[AndyDursin]

Eric, if you go into your account at Directv.com and click on My System/Upgrade My System or Receivers, you ought to see the offers you qualify for.

The best you can do for the new dish and an H20 is $99 installed -- it's what I paid a year ago and I believe that's as good as you can get at the moment. I checked my account and that offer is still listed in there, it reads like this:

DIRECTV® HD Receiver and Multi-Satellite Dish
For access to the widest variety of HD channels,
including your local networks
A picture-perfect viewing experience
Lease upgrade only $99 including standard
professional installation if selected
A single HD Access service fee ($9.99/month) will
appear on your bill once your HD receiver(s) is
activated

If you've had Directv for a while I bet you have that option available to you...if not (or if it's $199 and not $99) I would call retention and tell them you want to switch to Dish Network and you know this $99 offer is on the table for upgrading.

What REALLY isn't a deal is their HD-DVR, which still rings up at $299. Ouch. No thanks. I'll live with down-rezzing my HD to 16:9 standard-def for the few HD cable shows I record and can't see live (I can record OTA HD off my other DVR).

Keep in mind some of these channels (Smithsonian, HDNet, basically any without a corresponding SD version) are going to the "HD Extra" pack, which is free until December but will be $5 per-month (on top of the $10 monthly HD charge) after that. Probably worth it though for MGM HD alone. You can find that in "My Programming" under the package options (on the last page after "HD Access").

Overall even though they're still working out some kinks I'm very impressed with the new channels and the PQ is FAR superior. Just remember some of them are so new there's hardly any HD on them (like TBS, FX, Sci-Fi, etc.). But I love having the regional sports networks in HD, they're adding them at a weekly clip now, in addition to the new channels.

[Eric W.]

Eric, if you go into your account at Directv.com and click on My System/Upgrade My System or Receivers, you ought to see the offers you qualify for.

The best you can do for the new dish and an H20 is $99 installed -- it's what I paid a year ago and I believe that's as good as you can get at the moment. I checked my account and that offer is still listed in there, it reads like this:

DIRECTV® HD Receiver and Multi-Satellite Dish
For access to the widest variety of HD channels,
including your local networks
A picture-perfect viewing experience
Lease upgrade only $99 including standard
professional installation if selected
A single HD Access service fee ($9.99/month) will
appear on your bill once your HD receiver(s) is
activated

If you've had Directv for a while I bet you have that option available to you...if not (or if it's $199 and not $99) I would call retention and tell them you want to switch to Dish Network and you know this $99 offer is on the table for upgrading.

I see all that as well.


I'm hearing talk that an H21 is floating out there, or will be soon, and I'm halfway thinking I should wait until the new hardware rolls around and maybe a few more kinks get ironed out.

I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more generous of offers put on the table for existing customers, either.

What REALLY isn't a deal is their HD-DVR, which still rings up at $299. Ouch. No thanks. I'll live with down-rezzing my HD to 16:9 standard-def for the few HD cable shows I record and can't see live (I can record OTA HD off my other DVR).

That's a perfect case in point of what I mean. They really need to get real on some of these prices if they really want to move things along.

Maybe I'll see something around Black Friday or so that's more appealing than this.

I have an H10 and a 3lnb dish that I use now to get the "old" HD stuff and I feel like I should be shown a little bit more love, if you know what I mean.

Keep in mind some of these channels (Smithsonian, HDNet, basically any without a corresponding SD version) are going to the "HD Extra" pack, which is free until December but will be $5 per-month (on top of the $10 monthly HD charge) after that.

Heh, that figures.

I had a feeling $10 a month was't going to cover all that.

Probably worth it though for MGM HD alone. You can find that in "My Programming" under the package options (on the last page after "HD Access").

Overall even though they're still working out some kinks I'm very impressed with the new channels and the PQ is FAR superior. Just remember some of them are so new there's hardly any HD on them (like TBS, FX, Sci-Fi, etc.). But I love having the regional sports networks in HD, they're adding them at a weekly clip now, in addition to the new channels.

Sounds promising!

[AndyDursin]

I'm hearing talk that an H21 is floating out there, or will be soon, and I'm halfway thinking I should wait until the new hardware rolls around and maybe a few more kinks get ironed out.

I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more generous of offers put on the table for existing customers, either.

I agree, but on the other hand, from what I've heard "business" is going so well now with the new channels being launched (and consumer demand for the new dishes) that they have less incentive to offer any kinds of better deals. Thus, what you see might be what you get...that $99 rate has been there for a while and it's what I paid, though I did not have HD before then.

The H21 I've heard very little about -- I don't think it does much of anything differently than the H20 other than it being newer and possibly (?) more reliable (hopefully).

The thing with the H20 is that there are multiple versions of it from different manufacturers. When I first signed up I got the H20-600 which was made by, I believe, LG in China -- it was crap. I went through literally 3 of them and swapped them through DirecTV (they did it for nothing several times with me) before I received new H20-100's -- which look a little different, and are made by RCA in Mexico.

These have given me NO trouble at any point, ever (the others crashed, re-set, and ran REALLY, really hot). But it's a crapshoot as to what they will send you. I would hope by this point they've relegated the '600 model to the scrap bin (if you read around you'll find dozens and dozens of similar reports to my experience), but you never know.

IF you can get a new H21 I'd go for it, but I don't know what they're offering.

The H20-100 has worked great for me and I usually download the software trials via DBSTalk's "Cutting Edge" (Friday and Saturday nights they run testing you can participate in)...the latest update of which has worked just fine and very stable too.

[Eric W.]

I'm hearing talk that an H21 is floating out there, or will be soon, and I'm halfway thinking I should wait until the new hardware rolls around and maybe a few more kinks get ironed out.

I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more generous of offers put on the table for existing customers, either.

I agree, but on the other hand, from what I've heard "business" is going so well now with the new channels being launched (and consumer demand for the new dishes) that they have less incentive to offer any kinds of better deals. Thus, what you see might be what you get...that $99 rate has been there for a while and it's what I paid, though I did not have HD before then.

True.

The H21 I've heard very little about -- I don't think it does much of anything differently than the H20 other than it being newer and possibly (?) more reliable (hopefully).

Go to dbstalk.com and you'll see several threads about it. It sounds like I should angle to get an H21 when I do this thing.

The thing with the H20 is that there are multiple versions of it from different manufacturers. When I first signed up I got the H20-600 which was made by, I believe, LG in China -- it was crap. I went through literally 3 of them and swapped them through DirecTV (they did it for nothing several times with me) before I received new H20-100's -- which look a little different, and are made by RCA in Mexico.

This is something I'd like to avoid entirely.

These have given me NO trouble at any point, ever (the others crashed, re-set, and ran REALLY, really hot). But it's a crapshoot as to what they will send you. I would hope by this point they've relegated the '600 model to the scrap bin (if you read around you'll find dozens and dozens of similar reports to my experience), but you never know.

You'll see on dbstalk.com that you're hardly alone on any of that. Most of the guys are saying "Get an H21."

IF you can get a new H21 I'd go for it, but I don't know what they're offering.

The H20-100 has worked great for me and I usually download the software trials via DBSTalk's "Cutting Edge" (Friday and Saturday nights they run testing you can participate in)...the latest update of which has worked just fine and very stable too.

Ah, so you already know about all this.

[Eric W.]

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/arti ... 606_2.html

Nintendo Cashes in on 'Casual Gamers'

In an industry so competitive it's often described as a war, one video game company has found a niche market to dig into and is racking up the monetary high scores.

Japanese video game company Nintendo (NTDOY) has found success in aiming its business towards "the casual" video game player. Proof of that success is third-quarter revenues doubled over last year.

“The entire expansion in this industry is coming from Nintendo,” said Daniel Ernst, an analyst with Soleil-Hudson Square Research.

Analysts and industry watchers said the video game industry’s newest evolution is not related to technology but demographics. The newest people to play video games are older generations - Baby Boomers or Generation X-ers with children. The industry term being thrown around is “casual gamer.”

“Baby Boomers are bowling, golfing – a lot of these casual sports games,” said Richard Doherty, with the New York-based market research company Envisioneering. “This industry is not just Mario anymore.”

Nintendo, which was once chastised by industry experts for aiming too much at children, seem to have found its calling through its newest console, the Nintendo Wii.

The Wii has been the top-selling next-generation console this year – selling 13.2 million units worldwide since its debut last November. The Wii’s unique controller, which allows a player to interact with the game, and cheaper price as compared to Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s Playstation 3, have been cited by industry watchers as the top reason for the console’s success.

“The Wii has the inside track to the casual gamer,” said Charles Di Bona, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., LLC.

This has benefited Nintendo’s bottom line. The stock is up more than 130% year to date – making Mario’s maker the second-largest company by market capitalization in Japan behind car maker Toyota.

Wii’s success has attracted attention from third-party developers like Electronic Arts or Activision, analysts said, an important move in the video game industry.

Third party software developers, which develop games that can be played on the leading consoles, traditionally avoided Nintendo, forcing the Japanese company to create its own iconic franchises like Mario, Zelda and Metroid, but missing out on games like the Grand Theft Auto series.

“They are now clearly interested because of (Wii's) installed base,” said analyst Doug Creutz, with Cowen & Co. “However, historically Nintendo is harder to work with. It’s too early to tell how this will play out.”

Nintendo has also seen casual gamer success in the mobile gaming market, something traditionally marketed to children. The company sold more than 54 million units of their two-screen Nintendo DS handheld since the handheld’s release, and expects to sell 165 million Nintendo DS games this fiscal year.

“Everyone is focusing on the competition between the three consoles, but the real growth in this industry is as of late is handhelds,” Ernst said. “DS is the real driver.”

The casual gamer was something of a surprise to industry watchers, and not really considered when the other two console makers – Microsoft and Sony – made their platforms.

“Sony and Microsoft’s markets are the regular gamer,” said Cruetz.

This is not to say the other consoles haven’t been successful.

Microsoft (MSFT: 31.99, +0.74, +2.36%) “Halo 3” – a franchise traditionally marketed to long-time gamers – was the number one selling video game in September, outselling the number two game nearly 12 to 1.

Sony’s Playstation 3 (SNE: 47.98, +2.69, +5.93%) has lagged behind the other two, selling more than 5 million units worldwide – and recently was cut in price to stimulate demand. Analysts said third-party developers, traditionally Sony’s bread and butter, aren’t sure what to do with the console and have moved development dollars elsewhere, mainly the Wii and Xbox.

Still, because the casual gamer market is so new, there are still concerns about its long-term feasibility, analysts said.

“The casual gamer is harder to monetize,” Di Bona said. “All the money made in video games is on the software side – and it’s hard to tell how many software titles they will buy.”

Despite the lack of clarity on what this older demographic wants, it’s clear they are interested. The Wii has remained in short supply since last Christmas, and market researchers believe it will be hard to come by for the holiday season.

“When we talk about this new casual gaming demographic, Nintendo literally has 100 percent of it,” Ernst said. “There’s just no competition.”

Very impressive. Nintendo has found a way to really establish a very strong and arguably "can't lose" niche for themselves here.

[AndyDursin]

Yeah at some point there may be another game I'll buy for the Wii LOL, there are SO many games -- but it's like when the PS2 took off, very few of them are actually good and you've got one publisher after another drenching the system in titles. But if it sells that's what matters -- I think CARNIVAL GAMES just sold over 100,000 units last month for crying out loud!!

Speaking of "tech" remind me not to sell electronic equipment on Ebay again. I sold my old Onkyo receiver for under $100 and the guy left me a negative -- without even writing! -- because he says it's "broken and outputs mono sound." Very obviously the guy has no idea how it works, and if he couldn't be bothered to even write in the first place, what business does he have buying the unit at all?!? (Of course he had a feedback rating of 13).

I also sold my Philips Blu Ray player and got a surprisingly good amount of change back -- put it towards the Sammy 1400 (at under $400 from Buy.com) because I want to pass DTS-MA direct to the receiver. We'll see how it works!

[Eric W.]

Yeah at some point there may be another game I'll buy for the Wii LOL, there are SO many games -- but it's like when the PS2 took off, very few of them are actually good and you've got one publisher after another drenching the system in titles. But if it sells that's what matters -- I think CARNIVAL GAMES just sold over 100,000 units last month for crying out loud!!

You always have to wait until a console is out on the streets for at least a year before you really start seeing the goods.

Speaking of "tech" remind me not to sell electronic equipment on Ebay again.

I've gotten to the point where I've just about given up on selling ANYTHING outright.

Ebay is so, so heavily favored towards the buyer it's not even funny.

I sold my old Onkyo receiver for under $100 and the guy left me a negative -- without even writing! -- because he says it's "broken and outputs mono sound." Very obviously the guy has no idea how it works, and if he couldn't be bothered to even write in the first place, what business does he have buying the unit at all?!? (Of course he had a feedback rating of 13).

I'd try and appeal that negative feedback. You probably know this, but you can also respond to feedback right there in the slot.

I also sold my Philips Blu Ray player and got a surprisingly good amount of change back -- put it towards the Sammy 1400 (at under $400 from Buy.com) because I want to pass DTS-MA direct to the receiver. We'll see how it works!

Probably a good move.

[AndyDursin]

Anyone playing CALL OF DUTY 4?

This is hands down the best multiplayer game I've ever experienced -- insanely fun and addictive, and easily accessible.

I rented a game I thought Joanne would enjoy (THRILLVILLE, that roller-coaster sim) and she hated it -- tried COD4 instead, and despite having NEVER played a shooter before (Ever, of any kind), she loved the online play...and I tell you what, after a little practice with understanding how shooters work, she can snipe with the best of 'em!! It's a good release from coming home after a long day at the hospital for her.

The single player game, which I finished, is very short, but it's just incredible. For me HALO 3 can't hold a candle to this game, though truth be told I'm not the biggest HALO fan any way. COD4 is just incredibly awesome in every way, shape and form. Hands down one of the great games ever IMO.

[AndyDursin]

I should mention Circuit City will have it (for the 360) for $39 from 12/2-12/8. Worth every penny

[Eric W.]

I should mention Circuit City will have it (for the 360) for $39 from 12/2-12/8. Worth every penny

And then some.

Anyone that even remotely likes first person shooters at all needs to pick this up ASAP.